


Assorted Guy/Luke Ficbits

by Eldritch



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-10-23
Updated: 2006-10-23
Packaged: 2017-10-20 06:49:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/209915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eldritch/pseuds/Eldritch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What it says on the tin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Assorted Guy/Luke Ficbits

It takes Duke Fabre until three days after their triumphant arrival home to talk to him. Guy's honestly a little impressed with the man's restraint--after his actions during the signing of the treaty, he would've expected the man to have confronted him sooner. It's pretty early in the morning when he gets the summons to the Duke's study, early enough that Luke's sure to still be asleep, something he's thankful for.

It'd be too much to ask for Luke to not notice eventually, though. And sure enough, come mid-afternoon, Luke's sticking his head into the window. "Guy?" he asks, confusion written plainly over his features. "We just got home. The hell are you packing for?"

Guy laughs, because it's the only thing he can do. "Uh, well... it seems like your father's decided to give me a leave of absence." It's only through long practice that the bitter twist to the last words is kept purely mental. Likewise, he doesn't say, _He doesn't want me as part of his household anymore, especially not around his son._ Smoothing the wrinkles from a shirt, he glances up and manages a smile. "Guess you and Mieu will have to amuse yourselves for a while."

"What?!" Luke crosses his arms on the windowsill, resting his chin on his hands with a frown. "But I don't _want_ you to--" There's a hitch in his breath as he catches himself, visibly trying to switch tracks. "Where do you think you're going to go?"

"I haven't really thought about it yet. Maybe Sheridan. They could always use some help with the fon machi-- hey, don't look at me like that!" Guy says when Luke rolls his eyes. "Nah, I was thinking I'd go to Grand Chokma, actually. Emperor Peony was talking about restoring my family titles and all that, so..."

Luke blinks. "Oh, that's right. It's not like you have to stay here, is it. You'd be a noble in Malkuth."

There's a flat tone in his voice that makes Guy set down the clothes he's folding and cross the floor to the window. "Hey," he says, resting a hand on the top of Luke's head and ruffling his hair fondly. "I hope you don't think any of that is going to make me abandon you."

"W-what? No, of course not!" Luke lies, blushing furiously.

Guy grins. "Good. Because I'm not planning on it." Whether the Duke liked it or not. "Now get in here and help me pack."

Luke screws up his face in a way that makes him look exactly like the seven year old he technically is. "Fine," he groans, giving a long-suffering sigh. "But if I give myself a hernia hauling your stuff around, it's your fault."

"I don't even _own_ enough stuff to do that," Guy says truthfully, helping to haul Luke in through the window. And if his lips brush over Luke's hair ever-so-slightly in the process, hopefully Luke will just think it's an accident.

* * *

"Luke! Luke! Oh, for the love of--" Guy closed the closet doors a little more forcefully than he probably needed to. Mentally running through a list of the rooms in the manor he _hadn't_ checked yet, he groaned and slumped against the wall. "It's just a bath," he muttered to himself. "There's nothing wrong with baths." After a few minutes, inspiration struck and he raised his voice again. "Luke! If you don't come and take your bath on time, I'll tell Van you've been naughty again!"

All was silent for a moment. Then came the sounds of bare feet hurriedly slapping the wooden floor in the hallway outside. Luke barreled into the room, a truly impressive pout on his face. "No _fair_ ," the eleven-year-old whined.

Guy grinned. "Totally fair," he told him, stooping down a little to ruffle Luke's hair and dodging the angry swat that came next with the ease of long practice. "C'mon, we've gotta get you in the bath before your father comes home, remember?"

"But I don' wanna." The pout had grown into something that was easily one of Luke's best to date, complete with wobbling lip and teary eyes.

"Yeah?" Guy dropped down onto one knee to be more level with his charge. "I thought you liked baths. Especially since you got that toy boat to play with." Luke vehemently shook his head, his hair flying everywhere. Guy made a mental note that he needed a haircut after the bath. "Okay... you gonna tell me why, or am I gonna have to guess?"

Shifting from foot to foot, Luke looked at him with wide eyes. "There are monsters," he informed Guy seriously.

"Monsters."

"Uh-huh."

"In the tub."

"Uh- _huh_."

"Um." All Guy could do was stare. "But I haven't seen any monsters there."

The child narrowed his eyes. "But you _told_ me they were there, stupid."

"Don't call people stupid," Guy corrected automatically. Then he blinked. "Wait, I did?"

"Yeah!" Green eyes stared earnestly back at him. "Remember the story you read last night? With the monster in the water an' the knight an'--"

Guy laughed. "Luke, that was a sea monster."

Luke tilted his head to the side, confused. "So?"

"So," Guy said, standing back up and smiling down at the boy, "the sea is a _lot_ bigger than your bath. The monsters in it couldn't even fit in there."

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh.'" Seeing Luke duck his head embarressedly, he hastily added: "But if there _is_ a monster in your bath, I'll protect you from it, okay?"

"Okay!" Luke's face broke into a brilliant smile. He grabbed his servant's hand with sticky fingers--Guy wondered if he'd managed to beg some sweets off one of the cooks again--and tugged on it. "C'mon, let's go!"

"Lead on," Guy laughed, and allowed himself to be dragged out of the room.

* * *

"Luke," Peony called as everyone prepared to leave the throne room. "Can I speak with you for a moment? In private?"

 _No,_ Luke wanted to say, _you're really sort of weird and I don't want to be alone with you._ But even he knew that wasn't the sort of thing one said to emperors. "Um, sure, your majesty. What is it?"

Peony crooked his finger in Luke's direction, leading him over to the windows behind his throne. He stared out at the waterfalls for a moment before turning to face the boy. "I just wanted you to know how lonely Gailardia's been without you."

"W-what?" Luke blinked. "Guy... missed me?"

"Well, of course he did!" Peony said with a flourish, his silken sleeves fluttering. "Torn away from you like that!"

 _Good,_ a sulky part of him thought, but he pushed that down. "...huh, I thought he'd be too busy to really think about it."

"Not at all. So I think you should make sure to spend plenty of time catching up, okay?" Peony's wink did nothing to soften the razor edge in his smile.

"O-okay," Luke squeaked.

* * *

Guy had approximately ten seconds from the time he entered the front door to when a small redheaded missile shot out of nowhere and grabbed him around the waist.

"Guy! Guy Guy Guy Guy! You're back!" Luke cried excitedly, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.

"I was only gone for a few hours," Guy laughed, ruffling the boy's hair. "What're you so excited about?" He tried to step out of the entryway and into the hall, but only vaguely succeeded due to Luke's refusal to let go of him.

Luke fixed him with a bright smile. "Guess what!"

Guy ignored the giggles of the maids manning the doorway. "I'm bad at guessing. You know that. How about you just tell me?"

Normally this would've earned him protestations and an insistence that no, he _had_ to guess first, but it looked like Luke was just dying to get it out. The boy grinned and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small box that he proudly presented to Guy. "It's for you!"

"...for me? Really?" Guy looked down at the proffered box, mentally going through a list of what Luke's activities had been that day in an attempt to guess what he was in for. "What is it?"

"Father's been making you do lots of stuff. And he makes you go out all the time." Luke made a face at this. It was no secret that he hated it whenever Guy left the manor, and had been known to throw spectacular temper tantrums just to keep it from happening. "I thought that if you belonged to _me_ , then he couldn't do that anymore! So I got the maids to get you this!"

With slight trepidation, Guy took the lid off the box. A slender collar lay inside, obviously finely-made. It was the kind that nobles often bought for their more treasured pets. For a long while, all he could do was stare at it as Luke smiled sunnily up at him. "Um. Luke, I..." Guy managed, grasping for words.

The boy's face fell. "Don't you like it?"

"No, that's not it at all! It's really lovely, and I appreciate it, it's just..." He had no idea how to finish that sentence. Or explain to Luke why giving people collars wasn't usually acceptable.

"Great!" Luke cut off any further protestations by tugging on Guy's shirt. "Bend down to I can put it on you!" Automatically, Guy knelt down in front of him. Luke very carefully took the collar out of the box and fastened it around Guy's neck, throwing his arms around him in a hug when he was done. "There! See, you're mine now!"

Guy sighed, hugging Luke back. He couldn't help but smile a little at his enthusiasm. "Yeah, Luke. I'm all yours."


End file.
